


Then, We Cry

by Debi_C



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Ghosts, Grief/Mourning, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-23 05:10:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11982846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Debi_C/pseuds/Debi_C
Summary: Jack needs some time to visit with a friend.





	Then, We Cry

**Author's Note:**

> :  
> Written in response to the challenge Crying Jack from Ancient Obsessions.

He approached the gravesite with some hesitation. Of course he’d been there for the funeral along with all the other mourners, but he wanted some private time with her.

He bent down at the small demarcation in the dirt and settled himself cross-legged on the damp grass. His knees popped unrelentingly. He knew that she heard them. He could hear her voice in his head. ‘Now, Colonel, those knees aren’t getting any younger you know. We really should be discussing some physical therapy for you. Honestly, I don’t know what you are doing to them. Whatever it is, stop it. They keep getting worse.’

“Well, there’s all that running, jumping, falling, rolling and other stuff,” he heard himself say out loud, responding to the invisible presence. “And of course, there’s that pesky don’t ask don’t tell rule, doc.”

‘You know I won’t say anything,’ came the ephemeral reply. ‘You know you can trust me on this.’

“We always did, doc.” He shook his head sadly. “You held our, well… *my* professional ass in your soft little hands in so many different ways.” He blinked. “And that’s not evening mentioning another ass I think highly of.”

‘Well, it is a sweet one at that. You always did have excellent taste,’ he heard a breezy giggle tickle his ear. ‘Not to mention excellent hands. My only regret was that your interest wandered from my own talents.’ A ghostly sigh passed over his graying head. ‘But, we had our fun too for a little bit, until you became part of my chain of command.’

“Military politics is a pain in the ass,” He answered honestly.

‘Not enough of one to stop you from getting involved with a teammate.’

“No, that wasn’t it.” He admitted, “it wasn’t enough of one to prevent me from finding something special again.”

‘No, never that. That would have been stupid, and you’re not a stupid man.”

“Ya think?”

‘I know.’

“It’s worth it.”

‘I know,’ came the reply. ‘Just, be careful.”

“My middle name,” he shook his head again, “unlike yours.”

‘Hey, that’s so not fair Mister-Save-The-Universe-O’Neill,’ came the soft giggling protest.

He looked up at the darkening sky and blinked. When had the sun begun to set? “So, again, why were you there?”

“Battlefield medicine. Our people were dying.’ An invisible shrug. ‘Your job is to lead, mine was to heal. Just part of the territory.’

“Well, I WAS leading. You kinda screwed the pooch on your end.”

A soft sigh. ‘Tell me about it. I must have been having a bad bio-rhythm day.’

“Jesus, Janet! Do you think so! Why the hell didn’t you have a fucking vest on?” He squinched his eyes shut trying to blot out an imagined scene that had insisted that he watch even while he had been unconscious. “Janet?”

‘Its okay, Jack,’ the quiet voice soothed. ‘It’s all right. I didn’t have a vest on because I was too small. There wasn’t one that fit, but…it doesn’t matter. It wouldn’t have mattered.’

“How can you say that? How can it be all right?”

‘Because it is,’ the gentle tones insisted. ‘Cassie’s grown now, Sam can watch out for her, and I know that you and Daniel will too.’ He almost felt the soft fingers feather through his hair. ‘You’ll go on being you and watching out for all your kids...for all our kids,’ the soft voice continued. ‘And Daniel will be there to take care of you.’

“He wants to go to Atlantis,” he protested unhappily.

‘He only thinks he does. He only sees the good stuff over there. He’ll figure it out and he’ll be back.’

“No. Part of our good stuff died. A very big part of our lives was taken from us in an unexplainable way. I understand him…what he wants. He wants to run away; he wants to forget for a while.” He ran his hands over his face and head. “I envy him the escape. I’ll probably have to let him go.”

‘He’ll come back.’ The voice sounded very sure.

“Yeah, right. He’ll come back for a broken down old war horse, leave the wonders of the universe behind for an old man and an even older cabin in the wilderness.” He shook his head dejectedly. “Daniel needs to go. He needs to find a pretty girl, get married and raise cute kids. He doesn’t need a…”

‘No! He needs what he wants, not what *you* think he should want!”

“I just wonder if he knows what he wants.”

‘So do I, Colonel-mine, but I know what a wonderful want you are. I was jealous when you left me ya know.’ A naughty giggle gusted past him. ‘I’d often thought of a three-fer, but never got an invite.’

“Don’t change the subject.”

“It’s already changed, my lovely Jack. It’s all changed; and come hell, high waters and regrets, it won’t change back.’ There was a quiet pause. ‘I’ve got to go, I just wanted to tell you goodbye…and besides, your ride is here.’

A dark shadow cast from a security light had snuck up and covered him in darkness. A strong hand reached down to him. He reached up and took it, using it to anchor himself as he struggled to stand. His traitorous knees popped again.

“Ready?”

“Not really…but I guess…”

“There’s a quote by Shakespeare that goes, ‘The evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft' interned with their bones ...’

“What if there was no evil? What if there was only good?”

“Then, we remember the source of the good.” A strong arm wrapped around his shoulder. “We remember the good and we keep it alive.”

“She’d like that.”

“Yes, I believe that she would.”

He pulled back and looked into blue eyes. “I…I want to go home now.”

“Then, home we shall go.” The arm guided him back down the path to the two waiting vehicles.

He climbed up into his truck. “I’ll meet you there.”

“I’ll be there,” the concerned voice said. “Then what do we do?”

“Then? We do what we have to. Then, we cry.”


End file.
